I was in a kind of dyeing frenzy last week. Since the vat is already up and running, I might as well use it.
Here is a small part of what I dyed during the week. Somehow the real life blue eludes me in my pictures. I really have to learn how to photograph indigo better. In real life the blues are slightly darker, esp the wool.
two caps for my sun sensitive red headed DH. Crocheted from several strands of very thin linen yarn and dyed in a pre-reduced vat.
The same multistranded linen yarn, knit with size 4.5 to 6.5 needles (I wanted to see which one knits up into the better handling). I used cable binders to tie dye the scarf. Again, the blue is darker.
some damask fabric (I think it comes from an old table cloth) resist dyed
and an old cotton nappy I want to use as a kerchief. The cotton is very soft and took up the dye rather well.
this one is fantastic. I love the way the dye distributed. Again some old damask from a table cloth.
wool georgette above. in real life it is a darkish aquatic blue. I dyed it first in 9 dips in the same vat as the linen fabric below. But I raised the pH from 9.5 to 10.5 for the linen.
Over the last week I learned some new things:
- I still fight with the 1-2-3 vat.
- the pre-reduced vat is really easy to use and to maintain. i will see for how long it takes up
- damask table cloth looks wonderful but i dyed cotton satin at the same time and although the hseen is great, it seems to hinder the take up of the dye
- i now have several yards of indigo dyed fabric and would like to sew ;o)